Sunday, January 22, 2012

In the mashup world of life, business, and web 2.0, spurred on by the Apple-ification of the world (iLife - as a concept not a product), one new idea is applying design to business models, and really by extension, applying design to everything.

Unfortunately, this does not mean as one might think, applying aesthetic principles, conceptually and literally, to business, business models, or any life context, adding beauty to function, and thereby function to function, and questioning the right proportionality of form and function.

Rather, at present applying design to business models means more basically, using design tools and design thinking in a business context, specifically, in the conduct of an iterative prototyping process with users.

In business 1.0, an entrepreneur would dream up an idea and write a business plan. In business 2.0, the claim is that entrepreneurs should interview dozens of potential customers to pivot through value propositions for ideas that solve the biggest customer pain points. Customer acquisition is tantamount, in a 'get, keep, grow' cycle. Elliptical tools like the business model canvas are proposed as support for this iterative prototyping process.

In the mashup world of life, business, and web 2.0, spurred on by the Apple-ification of the world (iLife - as a concept not a product), one new idea is applying design to business models, and really by extension, applying design to everything.

Unfortunately, this does not mean as one might think, applying aesthetic principles, conceptually and literally, to business, business models, or any life context, adding beauty to function, and thereby function to function, and questioning the right proportionality of form and function.

Rather, at present applying design to business models means more basically, using design tools and design thinking in a business context, specifically, in the conduct of an iterative prototyping process with users.

In business 1.0, an entrepreneur would dream up an idea and write a business plan. In business 2.0, the claim is that entrepreneurs should interview dozens of potential customers to pivot through value propositions for ideas that solve the biggest customer pain points. Customer acquisition is tantamount, in a 'get, keep, grow' cycle. Elliptical tools like the business model canvas are proposed as support for this iterative prototyping process.